The Associated Students of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (ASUH) is the undergraduate student government representing the 10,000+ full-time, classified, undergraduate students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. ASUH was chartered by the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents in 1912 and was originally named the Associated Students of the College of Hawai'i.
Background Budget The student government manages a stock portfolio currently worth around $9.0 million, of which up to 5 percent is withdrawn annually to fund the senate's yearly budget. The student government money originally came from the 1975 sale of the Honolulu Stadium, and has been managed by students since 1980 when ASUH received $836,000 from the sale to invest and create a fund for student projects.
Office The ASUH office is currently located in Campus Center 211. Before the construction of the Campus Center, the ASUH office was located in Hemenway Hall along with the University's cafeteria, mail room, and bookstore.
Structure ASUH is based on the parliamentary system and the executive and legislative branches are combined into one general assembly (the ASUH senate). The President and Vice president are popularly elected by the student body and the President presides over the senate. The President appoints committee chairs with the approval of the ASUH senate. The executive members of the senate consist of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and the four Senator at Large positions. In addition to the executive officers, 30 senators representing various colleges of the university make up the senate. The number of senators per college varies according to the population of the college, like the United States House of Representatives.
The Student Court, which is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, consists of 7 members. The Court has final jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to the ASUH Constitution and By-Laws and in all cases resulting from ASUH senate legislation.
Elections ASUH elections are held three times a year. The General Election takes place once a year during the Spring semester in April. During the General Election, all seats are open for election. Special Elections may take place during the Fall and Spring semesters to fill any vacancies that occur in the senate throughout the year. All senate members serve one year terms. Elections take place online at each University of Hawaiʻi students' MyUH account to ensure a fair election.
Positions Executive committee The Executive Committee is composed of the ASUH Executive Officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer), the Standing Committee Chairpersons, and Senators-At-Large. This committee coordinates the administration of all ASUH Senate programs, services and activities, hears Senate measures for First reading, hears complaints made against Senators or Executive Officers and decide the appropriate course of action, and responds to matters of immediate concern when the General Senate is not or is unable to be in session.
President The ASUH President is the chief executive officer of the Associated Students of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and serves a one-year term (academic year). The ASUH President presides over the General Senate and Executive Committee, and its meetings. They represent ASUH in all official dealings with the University Administration, the faculty, and other organizations, firms, and persons, and is responsible for the general welfare of the ASUH. The current President of the 109th Senate is Joshua Jungha Kim.
Vice President The ASUH Vice President assists the President in all Presidential duties, and exercises all Presidential powers and duties in the case of a vacancy, absence or incapacity in the office of the President. The ASUH Vice President is in charge of coordinating the activities of all ASUH standing committees and act as a liaison between the Senate and the standing committees. The current Vice-President of the 109th Senate is Alyssa Renteria.
Secretary The ASUH Secretary maintains accurate and complete files of the minutes of all General Senate and Executive Committee meetings, as well as upkeeps the records of all committee meeting minutes. The Secretary maintains attendance, voting records, and codifies all Senate legislation. They perform duties as assigned by the President or the Senate. The 110th Senate Secretary is Min Ji Cha.
Treasurer The ASUH Treasurer, along with the Committee on Finance, drafts and introduces the ASUH Budget each fiscal year. The Treasurer publicizes and submits financial reports to the ASUH. They perform duties assigned by the President or the ASUH Senate. The current Treasurer role for the 110th senate remains vacant.
Senator at Large
Senate Positions Senator for the College of Arts and Sciences
Senator for the College of Engineering
Senator for the College of Health Sciences & Social Welfare
Senator for the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
Senator for the Hawai’inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
Senator for the Shidler College of Business
Senator for the School of Architecture
Senator for the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
Senator for the School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Senator for the School of Travel Industry Management
Standing committees Current standing committees The Senate currently has eight standing committees: the Campus Life committee, the Elections committee, the External Affairs committee, Finance committee, Investment and Long Range Planning committee, the Internal Affairs Committee, Student Affairs committee, and Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Each committee is overseen by a chair and vice-chair and each person on senate is required to be a member of two committees.
Current chairs 109th Senate Campus Life - Miriam Salameh (Fall 2021) / Tea Stephens (Spring 2022) External Affairs - Mālamalono Hokama-Paris Elections - Christian Hermoso Internal Affairs - Tina Loos Finance - Julia Anuszewska Investments and Long Range Planning - Blake Saari Student Affairs - Hayden Kasal-Barsky Undergraduate Academic Affairs - Alyssa Renteria (Fall 2021) / Mitchell Dai (Spring 2022)
Former standing committees KTUH: 1966–1982 KTUH, the student run radio station at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, began as a standing committee of ASUH in 1966. KTUH was an AM closed circuit operation and reached the residence halls. ASUH oversaw the funding and operations of KTUH for its first three years. On September 28, 1967, ASUH passed a resolution asking UH President Thomas Hamilton to apply for an FM educational license. In December 1968, under the sponsorship of ASUH Senator Ken Kuniyuki, ASUH passed another resolution petitioning the Board of Regents to apply for an FM educational license. On January 8, 1969, the Board of Regents authorized the administration to file for a 10 watt FM radio station.
KTUH was issued its first educational FM license on September 29, 1969. The Speech-Communications Department obtained administrative control and line funding of KTUH after it became an FM station while ASUH continued to publish the station's program guides as a quasi-stipulation of the Board of Regents at the time of the transfer. In 1977, KTUH was overseen by the Director of the Bureau of Student Activities and developed as a student organization similar in design and intent to other previously chartered organizations. KTUH became a Chartered Student Organization on April 6, 1982, after a proposal was made to the Chancellor recommending that KTUH became a chartered organization. It was chartered under the organization name, Broadcast Communication Authority (BCA).
Board of Publications: 1966 On June 11, 1966, the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents approved the reorganization and subsequent separation of the Board of Publications (BOP) from ASUH as a BOR Chartered Student Organization.
History of advocacy and legislation ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i Initiative: 2019-20 The purpose of the ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i Initiative is to provide an opportunity and space for UHM students and community members to learn and speak the Hawaiian language at a centralized location on the Mānoa Campus.
U-PASS Initiative: 2008 – present In order to help reduce traffic, combat the low availability of student parking, and decrease the cost of bus passes, issues which were affecting a large number of students, in 2008 ASUH proposed a mandatory $20 student fee that would grant all fee paying students a bus pass (U-PASS) for the entire semester. At that time, the U-PASS was an optional $100 per semester a student could choose to pay if they wanted a bus pass. Henry Cheng (97th senate), an ASUH senator who led the U-PASS initiative with ASUH Secretary Kiara Sakamoto (97th senate), said, "TheBus is hoping that the mandatory university wide U-Pass will encourage more students to ride the bus, which will help the company when it applies for federal funding."
The proposal had support from both students and public transit authorities. ASUH collected over 2,200 signatures from the student body supporting the U-PASS initiative, over 604 pieces of written testimony at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa libraries (77% in support), and over 1,500 online testimonies from an online U-PASS survey (90% in support). In addition, resolutions of support were passed by: the UH System Student Caucus, Sustainable Saunders, Manoa Neighborhood Board, McCully/Moili'ili Neighborhood Board, and the Honolulu City Council Committee on Transportation & Planning.
ASUH proposed the student fee to the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents on March 20, 2009. The U-PASS initiative was approved unanimously with no reservations for a 2-year pilot program. The U-PASS program began in Spring 2010 and will conclude in Fall 2011. ASUH will need to meet with the Board of Regents again if they wish to continue the U-PASS pilot program as a permanent program.
Campus Center Renovation and Fitness Center Construction: 2007 This project was a collaborative effort between the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii (ASUH) and the Campus Center Board (CCB). Both groups successfully worked with university, community, governmental and legislative stakeholders in order to successfully appropriate $38 million in revenue bonds to renovate existing campus center complex facilities and construct a state-of-the-art 64,000 sq. ft. fitness center exclusively for the general student population. "If the building has to be placed on the outskirts of campus, that raises some problems," said Grant Teichman, the incoming president of the Campus Center Board. "The reason why that site was picked was for safety and security reasons," he said, noting that since there is a lot of foot traffic, students will not have to walk alone to and from the site.
24-hour Sinclair Library and Student Services Funding: 2006 "The project was a priority to more than 1,000 students who sent testimony to the Legislature in February asking for the funding to keep the library open longer," said Grant Teichman, the president of the undergraduate student association at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Students and student leaders also successfully led efforts to triple the amount of undergraduate academic advisors after submitting hundreds of pieces of testimony in support of robust funding to address desperately needed advising positions. In 2006, an emergency hold off on non-emergency advising was issued during the first two weeks of the semester due to a staff shortage with over 100 students a day being turned away. Before funding, there were only five (5) full-time and one part-time advisors serving more than 10,000 Arts and Sciences students at a ratio of 1:1,500—the recommended ratio, according to the National Academic Advising Association, is 1:300.
Preservation of Alcohol Sales at Aloha Stadium: 2006